From June 27th to July 27th, the Criterion Collection is having a month-long 50% off sale on all their titles. They started as a company that collaborated with filmmakers and studios to preserve classic and contemporary films that impact audiences and filmmakers alike. They are now past 1,000 titles in their collection that range from mainstream titles such as Wall-E and The Silence of the Lambs to more obscure titles such as Local Hero and Saint Omer. There is so much to choose from, and if you choose to buy a film or two, here’s a list of titles that should be sitting on anyone’s shelf.

Broadcast News (20th Century Fox)

This film is an essential for all physical media collectors and movie watchers. It chronicles the lives of three individuals who work in Washington, D.C., at a network. The three leads are Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks; Holly Hunter plays Jane Craig, a producer who is driven and dedicated to the integrity of journalism, William Hurt plays Tom Grunick, a handsome but slightly dim-witted news anchor, and Albert Brooks as Aaron Altman, a writer and field reporter who lacks the skills to be an anchor. It is equally full of laughs and dramatic tension; Hunter, Hurt, and Brooks knock their performances out of the park. It was nominated for 7 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (Hurt), Best Actress (Hunter), Best Supporting Actor (Brooks), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. The Criterion edition boasts a slew of special features including…an audio commentary featuring director/writer/producer James L. Brooks and editor Richard Marks, James L. Brooks-A Singular Voice, a documentary, alternate ending, and deleted scenes with commentary by James L. Brooks, making-of featurette, and more!!! Broadcast News is a must for all lovers of journalism and the news.

Picnic At Hanging Rock (Janus Films)

One of the earliest entries by the highly underrated director Peter Weir (who went on to direct many classics such as The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Dead Poets Society, and The Truman Show). This film is a loose retelling of the famed disappearance of a teacher and her students who vanished at Hanging Rock on Valentine’s Day in early 1900s Australia. Starring famed Welsh actress Rachel Roberts and an early appearance by future two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver. It has been a heavy influence on the director Sofia Coppola who took the visual style of this film to use in The Virgin Suicides (which is also in the Criterion Collection) and Marie Antoinette. Alas this film had no Oscar nominations, but that shouldn’t affect the need for it to be in anyone’s physical media collection. The copy of this film has an interview with Peter Weir, a making-of-documentary, an introduction by film scholar David Thomson, Homesdale (Peter Weir’s first film), and more!!! Picnic At Hanging Rock is a must-have for any fans of Weir, Coppola, or Lynch.

It Happened One Night (Columbia Pictures)

This may be one of the first romantic comedies of all time (and the first winner of “The Big Five” at the Oscars). It stars Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable as a socialite who is running away from her marriage and a dashing reporter. Set in the 1930s during the Great Depression, this movie follows our leads across the United States and it’s filled with many comedic hijinks. It Happened One Night won 5 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Capra), Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Actress (Claudette Colbert), and Screenplay. It is directed by Frank Capra whose name is synonymous with the term “Capra-esque” which means something sappy or saccharine. Whether this movie is sappy or not, it is an essential for those who love romantic comedies, are Oscars completists, or are into early film history.

The Wages Of Fear (Janus Films)

Before the world had Sorcerer, it had The Wages Of Fear. Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, it chronicles the story of four men who sign up to transfer nitroglycerin across dangerous terrain. It is thrilling and dramatic (in the best ways). It has a fantastic amount of special features, such as… an essay by famed author Dennis LeHane, a documentary entitled Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Enlightened Tyrant, an interview with actor Yves Montand, and more! Also if you want The Wages Of Fear to be on your shelf, add Sorcerer as well; it is the 1977 remake directed by William Friedkin and it stars Roy Scheider.

Ride The Pink Horse (Universal Pictures)

Even though it sounds like a euphemism, it is not. Ride the Pink Horse is an underrated late 1940s film noir about a GI (Robert Montgomery) who visits New Mexico to confront a gangster who murdered his friend. Robert Montgomery not only stars in this, he also directs, and the film also has the distinction of having the first Hispanic actor (Thomas Gomez) to be nominated for an acting Oscar. It features an interview with film noir author Imogen Sara Smith, a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, and an audio commentary featuring two of the biggest film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Miramax Films)

The movie that started the Sundance boom…the movie that brought us Steven Soderbergh…the movie that made us question everything we considered taboo. It’s a fantastic study of human relationships starring James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Laura San Giacomo, and Peter Gallagher. When Graham (James Spader) comes into Ann (Andie MacDowell) and John’s (Peter Gallagher) lives he brings with him a special collection that reveals the deepest parts of their souls. Laura San Giacomo stars as Ann’s sister Cynthia. It also won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The special features include…commentary with Soderbergh and Neil LaBute, Interview with James Spader, a new documentary about the making of the film, and much, much more.

Though this may not be every movie that is essential in the Criterion Collection, this list just gives you a glimpse of all the incredible films that it has to offer. New worlds, new stories, and new perspectives. Go seek out great films.